Parks and gardens in Paris: Monceau

The Monceau is one of the most elegant parks in Paris. Very popular among the locals, this park was also a place were many artists found their inspiration. Marcel Proust, a French writer and Hector Berlioz, a composer where very fond of this park, and Claude Monet even made five paintings between 1876 and 1878 representing it. Today, the Monceau Park is surrounded by beautiful and luxury building and a place where Parisians just love to go for jogging.

History

In 1769, Louis-Philippe d’Orléans, the duke of Chartres, built the Folie de Chartres, an octagonal pavilion surrounded by a garden. Later, in 1778, he decided to create a park like* **the Parc de Bagatelle. He confided this work to the landscaper Louis Carrogis Carmontelle, who designed this park as an Anglo-Chinese garden with many examples of the architectural folly, the buildings constructed above all for decoration. This is how the Monceau Park got its ruins of a temple of Mars, a Gothic castle, a Roman colonnade, a Dutch mill, an Egyptian pyramid and even a Chinese pagoda. During the French Revolution, the park was confiscated and has become national property. And in 1861, the Monceau Park became the first public park in Paris created by famous Baron Haussmann, a man behind the urban renewal of Paris. A beautiful bridge, made after the Rialto Bridge in Venice, *was added to the park, and many exotic trees and flowers were also planted.

Features

The most famous feature of the Monceau Park is the Naumachie, an oval basin bordered by the classical Corinthian colonnade, which was part of the church of Saint-Denis. Just next to it, you can see a large arcade, a relic of the Hotel de Ville de Paris, a city hall of Paris burned in 1871. But this is not all. In this park, you can also see many marble statues of writers and musicians, including Guy de Maupassant, Frederic Chopin and Édouard Pailleron. In 1982, a Japanese lantern was added to the park as a symbol of friendship between Paris and Tokyo. The Monceau Park is also home to magnificent trees. Here, you can admire a sycamore maple tree with twisted branches. This is the oldest, largest and the highest tree that you can see in this part of Paris.

Practical information

Monceau Park is open every day from 7 am to 10 pm during the summer months, and from 7 am to 8 pm during the winter. There are no restaurants or bars inside the park, but you can get a coffee or something to eat at the snack stand. This place is also perfect for families. In the park, you can find very interesting children playground and a magnificent carousel. Near the park, you can visit the Cernuschi museum, specialized in artworks from China, Japan, and Korea.